Ukraine’s trident, a symbol of the nation’s pride, is being put to use helping injured Ukrainian soldiers fighting on the front lines against Russian-backed insurgents.
Lesya Patoka, a Ukrainian stylist and costume
designer, has created a collection of unique decorative tridents, which she
sold at a charity auction on Patoka Studio’s Facebook page on July, 11.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.676751172416816.1073741836.199244383500833&type=1.
More than Hr 10,000 raised from the auction went to
the treatment of Ruslan Berladin, a 38-year-old Azov Battalion soldier, injured
in shelling by Kremlin-backed separatists in Donetsk Oblast’s Mariupol on June 13.
Berladin managed to survive after a mine exploded under his feet, but his internal
organs and a hand were injured.
Berladin’s dramatic story impressed Patoka. The idea
of creating tridents and setting up a charity auction came to her mind
spontaneously. “We are proud of Berladin’s strength and self-control and
decided to help the hero as much as we can,” Patoka said. “Girls who work in my
studio cannot defend country’s borders yet they are eager to save somebody’s
life with the help of art.”
Each of the nine tridents created for the auction are
50cm x70cm in size. The items are made in different styles and techniques. To
create them Patoka used plastic, metal, and textile.
When the artist initiated her charity auction she did
not even expect that it would become so popular. From July 1 when the event
started, the prices for the tridents kept rising every day. The starting price
for each lot is Hr 300. However, the prices for popular items increased seven
times. The bid price for the most popular trident rose to Hr 2,200. Prices for
other tridents vary from Hr 550 to Hr 2,000 now.
Natalya Yashchuk-Parubets from Kyiv learned about the
auction from her friends on Facebook and thinks it’s a good idea to help
wounded soldiers this way. The woman says she bid for and won two tridents – a
white one made from pearls for Hr 1350 and a blue-and-yellow one decorated with
rhinestones for Hr 1200. “I’ll be happy if my participation (in the auction)
helps Ruslan (Berladin),” she said and promises to present one of the tridents
to the soldiers in the East.
The auction was expected to last until July 10, but
due to the high activity among its participants Patoka decided to prolong the
tender for one more day. “I want to believe that our auction pushed people to
help Berladin,” the artist says adding that nowadays no one has a right to stay
away from someone’s misfortune and ensured – more charity auctions to come “if
our talents are useful.”
Kyiv Post staff writer Nataliya Trach can be reached
at [email protected]
